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I am outraged that climbers walked over someone who was suffering. Granted, conditions are not the best and survival becomes an individual issue, but I believe that if you are truly a great climber, you will come to the aid of those in need. It illustrates a human behavior. If it were your kid, wouldn't you want someone to help. Surely, you've never had assistance with a flat tire, or some other issue. There comes a point when you put your own interests aside to help others. I may be a Chirstian, but it does not matter. Society today has become so self-serving and self-centered. Those were not good climbers. They are people I would never climb with. Just think if you were in danger and called 911 and they ignored you. That is what this is like.

OK, what was the questions asked of Inglis prior to this response (See below)

This article makes it look like Inglis selflessly went right into his Summit. Maybe he did, but I am skeptical.

Believe what you want, that is your choice, I choose to wait until the climbers have had their say, I reserve opinion and judgement until such time, I will not jump to conclusions based on media coverage, period. This forum provides a vehicle inwhich those that were their can tell the story.

Quoting: PETER LEWIS: Mark Inglis, who is now on his way home to New Zealand says the whole experience has had a profound, somewhat humbling effect on him.

MARK INGLIS: You don't conquer Everest. You know, you get a window where you've got the privilege to be able to stand on the top. For me it was stretching the limits of a double amputee. You know, it's…there it is.

For me personally, I believed I could stand on the summit of Everest. A couple of us came off the mountain, we looked back, you can look up and it's just like looking up at Cook, and you go, ah, done that, no-one can ever take that away from you.

But here it's even more. It's like you've done something so huge in mountaineering that you can relax. It's… my next Everest won't be another mountain.

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"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it within himself." -- Galileo

kim

Smrtnupp, I'm not sure I understand your point. The link I provided in turn has a link to the audio-recording of Inglis's interview. In that interview, he referred to Sharp as having been 'effectively dead'. That's the expression that shocked me - and I feel somewhat vindicated given the circumstances of Lincoln Hall's survival.

Yes, Inglis's team tried to help - and they seem to have done more than many others. It's still a shocking situation that they abadoned him in circumstances where he may otherwise have been saved or at least not faced death alone, and in circumstances where they were on their way UP the mountain (i.e. they stood to lose the chance of a summit rather than their own lives in trying to save or comfort him).

My point is simply this, do not presume what you read in the news is correct. Dan Mazur was accused in the media of finding Lincoln giving him oxygen and tea, radioing others he was still alive and then proceeded to SUMMIT leaving behind a dying man, however, this is not what happened.

Quoting from their own site, yet Everest News has reported he did not Summit. So which is it? I am sure in the coming weeks all will be told. And on that note I am DONE posting on this incident until climbers tell their story.

This morning Dan Mazur on a summit push discovered the still alive Lincoln Hall at the second step and gave him hot tea and oxygen and he was able to use the radio to call his expedition. Dan with one client continued to the summit....

« Last Edit: May 28 2006, 00:48 by smrtnupp »

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"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it within himself." -- Galileo

At this point it does appear that judgement errors were made. Though I am trying to reframe from judgement until more climbers have spoken. It may take a dramatic event like this to change things for the better up there. The ego and business motives are very much a part of Everest though. That will not change as long is it take $25-50K (or more) to get a summit attempt. If it is true that 40 individual 'climbers' left him to die when the weather was good enough for a rescue attempt (even at that altitude), their own safety was not in severe danger, and they had the energy and resource to save this man. It will come out. Too many unknown factors still to say for sure.

Lincoln may have benefitted from this unfortunate episode and his life was saved (thanks to those who made the right calls).

The ambiguity of the situation is clear as mud.. clear is that the rescue would have been very tough, if not impossible and possibly already to little to late. It does sound like Dawa felt they were making a mistake leaving him. Most relevant interview excerpt with Jamie Mcguiness;from [ http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=2112 ]

"Dawa from Arun Treks also gave oxygen to David and tried to help him move, repeatedly, for perhaps an hour. But he could not get David to stand alone or even stand resting on his shoulders, and crying, Dawa had to leave him too. Even with two Sherpas it was not going to be possible to get David down the tricky sections below."

"Dawa, who did not summit because of giving his oxygen to David, told this to me less than 24 hours later when I met him on the fixed ropes. He was close to tears even then."

"At the time I thought the climber may be David Sharp, who had climbed with me twice, but it was only when I was on the way to the summit I had this confirmed when we passed him. A very sad moment. He was dead by then (18 May)."

The point is, they had much more than '2 sherpas' available to get him down the 'tricky section'. There was an army of able people up there still on their way up and in good weather contidtions. Question; did Dawa have to leave David to go up towards the summit (clients) or back down to ABC?

Of the 11 deaths so far this season, it appears half of them are related to high altitude sickness. The other causes are the climber fell, or ice/snow "fall".

Here is a summary on this year so far. John

Quote:At today's date, the north side has claimed 7 climbers, and the south side 3 plus one on the Lhotse face (shared route with Everest). Climbers on the mountain however mention 4 more fatalities on Everest North side this season, all unaccounted for.

Here is a record of the fatalities confirmed so far this season:

May 25, i Becoming completely blind on ascent, at 8800 meters, only 50 meters below the summit, Thomas Weber was turned back at 9.15 am by Harry and two Sherpas. 3 hours later, at 12:20 pm, Thomas had a collapse on the Second step (8700 m). He said, "I am dying" and lost consciousness. At 12:40 pm death was verified. Alexander Abramov provided a report the same day.

May 22, Russian Snow Leopard Igor Plyushkin, 54, complained that he didn't feel well at 7800 meters. Guides administered supplementary oxygen and adrenaline shots in a struggle for his life that lasted 1,5 hours. Igor died at 1.45 pm local time due to AMS. Expedition leader Alexander Abramov released the details the same day.

Around the weekend of May 20/21, French climber Jacques-Hugues Letrange died on descent from the summit. The French mountaineer had climbed Everest from its North side with his wife Caroline. No details have been released.

May 18, Brazilian climber Vitor Negrete perished on descent after a no 02 summit. Vitor climbed alone but managed to call his sherpa who went up and helped him to camp 3, where Vitor later died of altitude. Brazil media released the details the next day.

Vitor died only 3 days after learning that his team mate British David Sharp had vanished on his summit bid, on May 15. According to an interview with Washington Times, Double amputee Mark Inglis said that David Sharp, 34, was still alive at 28,000 feet, but was left to die at around 8000 meters by about 40 people who passed him that day. Both climbers were outfitted by Asian trekking, and climbing the north side. Asian Trekking did not provide information on the location, time or cause of David Sharp's death until May 23.

May 16, Swedish Tomas Olsson died on Everest North face in an attempt to ski down the Norton couloir with team mate Tormod Granheim. Tomas' snow anchor broke loose at a rock outcrop section and he fell from 8500 meters. Tormod free climbed down after his mate but found only gear scattered around. Details were published within 24 hours and a search party was dispatched the next day. Tomas body was discovered by a Sherpa at 6700 meters Saturday. Both climbers were unguided, sharing permit with an international group organized by Arun Treks & Expeditions.

April 21, three Sherpas died in the Everest south side icefall, in a massive serac collapse: Ang Phinjo Sherpa was hired by IMG, Lhakpa Tseri and Dawa Temba were employed by Asian Trekking on an expedition listed as led by Douglas Tumminello & Apa Sherpa (Team No Limit) climbing the south side. Details were released by IMG the same morning.

April 4, 2006 at 11:40 PM, Tuk Bahadur Thapa Masar, age 32, died from complications due to HAPE or high altitude pulmonary edema. Tuk Bahadur was from the Solo Khumbu region of Nepal and was on his first expedition. After his second ascent to the North Col, Tuk Bahadur felt ill and the decision was made for him to make a rapid decent back to BC at 17,500 ft. Once at BC his condition improved however he suddenly was afflicted by acute HAPE and died.

May 5, Czech climber Pavel Kalny fell to his death on the Lhotse wall (shared route with Everest south side). Pavel Kalny climbed with seasoned Czech climber Martin Minarik at the time of the fall. Pavel was found the next day by a team of Sherpas and a Chilean doctor who helped him down, but the climber died short of camp 3. Details from Martin are expected this week.

In terms of fatalities, the 2006 Everest season is now second only to the 1996 spring season which claimed 12 lives.